Providers are preparing for the next phase of a lobbying effort after they plan to send a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week asking the agency to explain its proposed 8% cut of Medicare Part B therapy services.
Today marks the deadline for congressmen to sign onto a letter that urges CMS to respond to Congress with answers to specific questions regarding how it formulated the proposed reduction to Medicare payments for physical and occupational therapy services. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) led the sign-on for the letter in the House.
The National Association for the Support of Long Term Care and other health provider groups supported the letter-signing campaign.
The lack of information about the reduction is what prompted providers to turn to Congress, said Cynthia Morton, executive director of NASL. She noted to McKnight’s that CMS provided “very little detail” about the estimated therapy decrease in its 2020 Physician Fee Schedule. “We just have table 120 from the finalized fee schedule last summer,” Morton said.
The final rule adopts the American Medical Association’s reform regarding Evaluation and Management (E/M) coding with increased payments for office and outpatient E/M visits. The therapy cut is a way for CMS to offset the payment increases, Morton explained. It would take effect in January 2021.
